This invention relates to a staple remover and, more particularly, the invention is concerned with providing a hand tool for aiding in the removal of heavy steel staples from sheets of material that have been secured together with relative ease and without causing damage to the material.
There are many presently available manually operable devices for removing wire staples from material where the legs have been clinched or bent over the material. Most of these devices work satisfactorily for the conventional wire staple which is light in weight and which can be drawn up through the stapled material with relative ease without substantially damaging the material. The bent legs of the staple partially straighten as the remover device is squeezed causing the staple to be released from the material. However, when heavy steel staples are used to bind sheets of material together, the conventional type of staple remover will not operate properly because of the relatively large forces required to straighten the bent legs of a steel staple by pulling upward through the work. Even if a heavy pry type staple remover were used, the results would not be satisfactory because there would likely be considerable damage to the sheets caused by the partially straightened legs of the steel staple as it is drawn through the material.
The only completely satisfactory way of removing a heavy steel staple which has been clinched and holds together sheets of material is to first straighten the bent legs and then pull the staple from the work or, alternately, separate the pages from the staple. Since steel staples are very stiff and difficult to manipulate, their removal is a difficult and frustrating task. A typical and very unsatisfactory as well as dangerous way of straightening the bent legs is by prying with a letter opener or penknife. It would be most desirable to provide a safe and simple way to straighten the legs on the clinched steel staple and thereby allow it to be easily removed from the stapled material.